Art Academy
by NormaJean Beausoleil
Summary: Nanowrimo '11: After a car crash kills his parents, Roxas gets a full ride scholarship to the prestigious Art Academy as a music composition student. However, adapting is harder than he could have ever known. Side dishes of DemyZex and NamiLarx.
1. Prologue: Donum

Prologue: Donum 8:02 AM

A lanky fourteen year old walked on the sparse stage. The stage itself was black, the background was black, even the curtains looked black from his angle. There was a bright white spot light, beaming down on him hotly. He forced himself to not shake with stage fright.

"My name is Demyx D'alexander."

He's trying hard to project self assuredness, but anyone with ears to hear can detect the nervous waiver in his voice.

"I'm going to be playing Ballade Four part two, Pelo Negro, and my own composition, Matins."

"Go ahead, Demyx," an adult's voice gave him permission to continue.

The boy nodded stiffly, and picket up his instrument.


	2. Symposium 1

Symposium 1

Everything hurt. Roxas felt weird and couldn't figure out whether he was lying down or sitting up. He moved slight and noticed that the fabric he was on was scratchy, and that the air smelled sterile. He opened his eyes for one excruciating moment, only to quickly close them in reaction to the bright light.

"Roxas?" a masculine voice came.

"Dad?" he replied. He was still really disoriented. A hand squeezed his own, and he realized that someone had been holding his hand for a while. It felt warmer than the rest of his cool body.

He tried to open his eyes again, this time only half way. He saw blond spiked hair and bright blue eyes. "Cloud?"

"Hey Roxas," his older brother replied. "How do you feel?"

"Like there's a cool blanket…" Roxas tried to word it accurately, "a cool blanket under my skin…and my body's gone."

"You should probably try to sleep some more," Cloud said. Like he had pronounced a spell, after the word "sleep" Roxas had already shut his eyes and began to breathe deeply.

Roxas heard voices murmuring the next time he awoke.

An unfamiliar voice spoke. "…other than the mental trauma he sustained, his physical state is good: no internal injuries, no broken bones, not even any sign of whiplash. He has some superficial cuts on his face and arms, as well as bruises. Once I can give him a physical examination, we should be able to find out if he has any sprains. He does have some rather heavy bruising around his collar bone and hip bones, probably from the seat belt, and I'll prescribe a cream to help reduce the pain and increase the circulation in those areas to expedite healing."

"Okay, so he should be able to go home today?" Cloud said.

"Cloud?" Roxas opened his eyes again.

"Hey. The doctor says you're doing well." Cloud smiled at him.

"I'm Dr. Leniman," a man in white coat said. "If you're awake enough, I'd like to give you a quick physical examination. If you do well, I can probably go ahead and release you to your brother."

The doctor carried out the examination, and Roxas responded to every direction. His attention however, was only half on the doctor. He stole glances whenever he could at his older brother, who looked tired and stressed, and something was off in his eyes. His gaze was different than Roxas had ever seen it before.

Roxas became more and more distracted by trying to figure out what was off with his brother when the doctor spoke to him at length after finishing the examination. Roxas found himself nodding in response to the doctor's instructions, although he really had no idea of what had just been said. The doctor left the room.

"Cloud, where are Mom and Dad?" Roxas asked.

"You don't remember what happened?" Cloud responded hastily.

"No…well…we were at Ikea, and we bought furniture, and I talked Mom into buying me this really cool orange lamp, and we had hot dogs and ice cream. Then we left to go buy groceries... We were on the road…and there was…it was big and so close…it was…there was an eighteen wheeler," Roxas's heartbeat started accelerating. "Cloud, there was honking, and Mom was yelling, and everything got loud, then…then I just remember a lot of pain…and then I woke up here." Roxas took a deep breath, the realization that he and his parents were in a car accident hitting him. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

"They're gone, Roxas."

"Gone where?"

"They're dead."

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	3. Symposium 2

"_Where are Mom and Dad?"_

"_They're gone, Roxas." _

"_Gone where?" _

"_They're dead." _

Roxas lowered his gaze to the speckled white linoleum floor. A nurse returned a few moments later and removed Roxas's IV and disconnected him from the machines. The doctor followed shortly, spoke with Cloud, and gave him the discharge papers to bring to the front desk. Roxas and Cloud floated down hallways and the elevator. They didn't speak to one another. They didn't look at one another. Roxas followed Cloud only by feeling, his eyes only watching the floor as he stepped forward in sync with his brother.

At the desk, Cloud filled out the paper work and gave whatever signatures he needed with the young uniformed woman. They exited through the front door and Cloud hailed a cab.

The two boys floated into their home. Cloud sat wearily on the couch in front of the TV, but didn't turn it on. Roxas followed. After a few moments, the younger blond reached over, picked up the remote, and turned the TV on.

Roxas didn't disturb the silence. He and Cloud stayed in the living room, falling asleep on the couch. They only got up to use the bathroom. Roxas got crackers and some water once from the kitchen. He saw the windows grow light, then dark, then light again.

After a while, Roxas looked at himself in the mirror and actually saw himself. He blinked at the dark circles under his eyes and sallow tone of his skin. He took a deep breath, and walked back into the living room. He knew he himself looked bad, but Cloud was worse. Red, bloodshot eyes contrasted with his own purple bags underneath. His lips were pale, his skin yellowish, blending in color with his limp hair. Roxas blinked a few times, taking in his brother's stare forward. Roxas now knew how to describe the way Cloud had looked at him in the hospital, and now at everything. It was a hollow look. It was a look of despair, and it twisted a hot blade in Roxas's stomach to see his older brother so destroyed. Roxas felt more lost and helpless than before. He had no idea how to help his brother, the same brother that had bandaged Roxas's knee when he was in elementary school, helped him adjust and gave him confidence to make new friends when they moved during middle school, and took him out for soda when he had his first girlfriend cheat on him in high school. Cloud needed help now, and Roxas didn't think that bandaids, pep talks, or sodas would bring the light back to his brother's eyes. With another deep, shuttering breath, Roxas turned around and walked out of the living room, straight to Cloud's bedroom. On the bedside table sat Cloud's cell phone, turned off and plugged into the wall.

Roxas picked it up, turned it on, tried the search through the contacts list. The phone vibrated, and a message popped up announcing 23 new text messages and 8 new voice mails. He exited the window and noticed for the first time what date it was. It was Monday night. They had gone to Ikea on Friday after school. He pushed his mind to refocus and opened the contact's list again.

The phone rang barely once, and an anxious voice came over the line. "Cloud? What's wrong? Why haven't you been responding to my—"

"Leon," Roxas said, his voice unsure of himself. He only hoped that calling Cloud's boyfriend was the right thing to do, but he really had no idea. "It's Roxas. Cloud needs you. We're at home."

"I'll be right over. Is Cloud safe? Are you?" Leon's voice sounded afraid.

"Yeah," Roxas said rather detached. "We're safe. It's just…" For the first time, Roxas wanted to cry but he had no idea why. It was like his body wanted him to, but his mind was still numb.

"Sit tight, Roxas. I'll be right over." Leon said.

"Okay," Roxas responded and hung up. He drifted back to the living room and sat in his spot next to his cadaverous brother. He felt raw.

Roxas blinked a few times. There was a knock at the door. He glanced over at Cloud, who didn't seem to notice, and then silently stood up and answered the door.

Leon's face relaxed the slightest bit at seeing Roxas.

"Hey Rox—" Leon was interrupted by the small blonde taking his wrist and pulling him to the living.

Leon glanced down at the paper bracelet encircling the thin, small wrist that pulled him with force. "You were in the hospital?"

They entered the darkened living room.

"Cloud?" Leon's voice spoke to the back of a blond head. Cloud startled, stood up slowly and turned around. He blinked.

"Leon?"

It was the first thing Cloud had said in days. Roxas released a sigh of relief. "I'm going to take a shower," he said, excusing himself so that his brother and his boyfriend could have sometime. On his way out, Cloud called out to him.

"Roxas," Cloud said with an eerie calm, "thank you."

Roxas nodded, and heard Cloud speak again to Leon. "Our parents are dead." Roxas shut the door behind him.

Leon pulled Cloud to the couch and sat him between his legs. He enveloped the young man, Cloud's back to his chest. Cloud clung to the arms that were pulled around him tightly. He murmured, "What am I going to do? What am I going to do?" over and over until he quieted himself and rested his head on Leon's shoulder. Leon calmingly ran his fingers through Cloud's oily hair.

A little while later, Roxas emerged from the shower, saying he was going to bed. Cloud got up to use the bathroom and shower himself.

The noise from the shower filtered into the living room, but strangely the noise made the house feel even emptier. Leon looked around the room, noticing the hospital release papers on the coffee table next couch where he and Cloud sat moments before. He stood up and wandered to the kitchen to look for something to make for his friends to eat. There was a distinct lack of the main staples, but the trash cans were empty as well. There was no food in the house. He put on a kettle of water to make some almond chamomile tea.

The kettle whistle burst forth with noise, screaming as Cloud entered the kitchen with wet hair. Leon glanced at him as he attended to the tea kettle.

"What have you two been eating?" Leon asked, added two sugar cubes to Cloud's teacup. He looked up again at his boyfriend and long time best friend. "You two haven't been eating," he observed. He sighed.

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	4. Symposium 3

Cloud stayed with Roxas in their parent's apartment. Leon was with them daily, and stayed most night. Two nights after he had first arrived, Leon took out a legal pad and sat and talked with Cloud and Roxas about planning and money matters. He talked with them about Roxas being a minor and that he would have to go into the state's care if someone didn't adopt him. Leon offered, but Cloud became furious and said he was Roxas's older brother and he would take responsibility for him. Roxas sat quietly, pained that he was the cause of the fight between his older brother and his boyfriend. After a few intense moments, the two young men calmed, especially after Cloud noticed that Roxas was indeed still in the room. Leon moved the discussion to other things: the funeral costs and planning, the need to get a lawyer to handle the inheritance, the possibility of giving up the apartment since their parents' income would be supporting them any more. All of this was written into the long, yellow legal pad.

Over the couple of next weeks, Leon frequently had the legal pad with him. Two nights after Cloud and Roxas's older brother, Zell, came down and stayed for the funeral, but left shortly after. He was by far the most stoic and distant of the three boys, and Leon remarked to himself how the Strife boys grew more and more down to earth and open as you looked down the line. He loved Cloud, but sometimes he was hard to understand.

Other than the first night Leon stayed with the two Strifes, Roxas stopped sleeping in his bedroom, reverting to the couch where he and Cloud stayed much like their first few days home after the accident. He started going to school again, but every time he came home he was reminded by the absence of his parents. He didn't want to be alone anywhere, even in his own room. So he stayed with Cloud in the living room. They continued to stare at the bookshelves, eyes going over and over the shelves. They looked at the books that marked their years: their parents made a point to continue reading time with their sons even as they grew older. Cloud remembered them taking turns reading chapters from The Hobbit when he was fourteen and The Lord of the Rings trilogy when he was fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen. Roxas looked at the collection of Harry Potter books. They read two each year from when he was eleven, and they had just finished the seventh. He was going to read with them The Hobbit next when he turned fifteen, to keep with tradition set with his older brothers.

Roxas turned his gaze to the grand piano on the side of the room. He won national contests when he was little. He was a child prodigy, a wunderkind. He loved music for all of his life, but since his parents died, he didn't want anything to do with it. He put his head onto Cloud's lap and tears fell silently once again. He cried himself into a light slumber. He was awakened by the sound of a door shutting, then felt Cloud shift a little. He stayed still, not wanted to deal with being awake again.

"They wanted him so badly to have a well rounded, normal childhood. I guess that dream is gone too, now," Cloud whispered.

"I don't think there is such thing as 'normal' with your family," Leon responded. Cloud chuckled in his throat. "But he's a good kid. And he has had a good childhood. This is a new chapter, right? They would say, 'The story goes on,' right?"

Cloud put his head on his friend's shoulder. "The story goes on," he repeated hollowly. "This doesn't feel like a new chapter, this feels like a different book entirely."


	5. Symposium 4

They had put down their bags and stared at the small, dingy place. The dull carpeting had burn marks in one spot, down to the hardwood support flooring, and stains littered the dull brown coloring almost like an abstract pattern.

"Well, this place is…well…" Leon said, efforts to find something good about the place failing.

"There are no bugs," the two blonds said in unison, irritated.

"Oh, okay," the tall brunet put his hands up in surrender. "Do you think the landlord would let you paint the walls?" He took two strides towards his boyfriend.

"Do you think I would let him say 'no'? I'm not even going to ask," Cloud said, a little anger still in his voice.

"How about I let you guys clean, then come back in a little bit with paint and brushes."

"Fine," Cloud said, relenting but brow still furrowed. He kissed his boyfriend on the cheek. "I'm going to grab the last of the stuff."

"Is your bathroom through here?" Leon pointed. Roxas nodded in response as his older brother was already out the door. Leon closed the sliding door behind him, but that did little for the noise that still entered the room. Roxas took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. He gazed at the boxes and bags in the middle of the floor, processing it all. As Leon turned on the tap in the bathroom, Roxas shook his head out of its daze as the noise of the sputtering water broke the momentary quiet in the apartment.

"So, kinda cozy, ain't it?" Leon said, reentering the room and wiping his hands on his pant legs. The towels hadn't been unpacked yet.

"Yeah, I suppose," Roxas said, gazing over the numerous flaws and blemishes of the apartment. He doubted even a coat of paint could cover up the sag in that west wall. There was a lot of work to do, and Roxas and Cloud would both be starting new part-time jobs.

"Hey, squirt," Leon said, putting his elbow on Roxas's shoulder. "Cloud's worried about you. He says you're not expressing your grief."

Roxas pushed the man off his shoulder. "What the…" Roxas's eyes glowed angry for moment, but then faded to their normal cadaverous quality. "He's more stoic than I am." Roxas's voice was hollow and resigned.

Leon sighed. "Okay, just don't hold it all in."

The boy lifted his gaze to make eye contact with Leon. The vacant expression, on someone so young, unnerved Leon.

"So anyway, what do you want for dinner?" Leon said, faking cheerfulness.

The front worked on Roxas, who gave a small smile. "Meat, any kind, I don't care. And no bread. If I see another slice of sandwich bread I might through it out the window."

Leon's hand was on the door when he heard a small voice from the little brother of his boyfriend.

"Leon," Roxas said, almost meekly, "Thanks for…everything, and…um…for being there for Cloud."

Leon blinked a few times. "Yeah, of course. I'll see you in a couple hours."

The two brothers had cleaned the entire apartment, from ceiling to floor, by the time Leon had returned with painting supplies, and a grand dinner. They lit tea-lights and spread out newspaper and ate on the floor. London broil, mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus, and salad were accompanied by cans of Coke. They ate the meal on paper plates and with plastic flatware. Cloud stole loving looks at his boyfriend whenever Roxas was preoccupied with the taste of some new course.

The three guys finished painting the walls with their second coat of pale blue paint at two o'clock in the morning. Cloud and Leon curled into comforters on one side of the stash of belongings, and Roxas curled into his own set of bedding on the otherside. After hearing the noise of a few kisses, he shoved headphones into his ears and turned up the pop music that offered him some sort of plasticine, bubblegum escape from his current life.

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